The highest quality fine art print is the result of the giclee reproduction process which involves image capture, image editing, image printing and image protection. The thorough completion of these steps is vital if the production of a fine art print that meets the high standards associated with a giclee reproduction is to be achieved.
The first and possibly most crucial step of the giclee reproduction process is the image capture. The digital file created from an original has an enormous amount of influence over the outcome of a giclée print because it sets the boundaries for what can be achieved in terms of detail, color, texture and clarity. The digital capture can originate from either a transparency or directly from an original. The quality of the starting points achieved by either method is heavily dependent upon the equipment used and the input profiles created. Of the two processes, a digital file from direct image capture (the digital file comes from shooting the original directly) is preferable over a transparency scan because it involves one less translation than a transparency which it shot by a photographer and then captured again by a scanner.
Regardless of how the digital file is achieved, the original shot will be primarily responsible for the textured, detail and color balance obtained. After the first digital file has been produced, input profiles must be created to compensate for the accuracy of the color in a file. This is done by targets that have been captured along with the original and are composed of blocks of color for which numerical values are known. This numerical values of color serve as color reference points. Once the input profile has been created the input stage is complete and the next step of the giclee reproduction process begins, image editing.
Image editing allows for further changes to be made to a digital file based on feed back from the monitor and/or color proofs. The most common and flexible image editing software is Adobe Photoshop and it is highly recommended by BullDog Products. At this point only fine tuning should be necessary if the input step was completed correctly. Once the proofer is satisfied with the output of a color proof, the editing step is complete. The next step in the reproduction process is the image output that, oddly enough, requires most of its configuration before a color proof is ever produced.
The most important component of image output in the giclee reproduction process is the output profile. An output profile takes all the variables associated with the output process and makes adjustments for them so that a consistent and optimal giclee print is produced. These profiles are usually created and customized using a third party RIP software.
The three big variables that output profiles adjust for is the current environment, desired substrate, and ink set used. Changes in humidity and temperature effect how ink will interact with a particular substrate by changing the amount of ink necessary to achieve a particular color. Substrates also affect the amount of ink necessary to achieve a particular color because some substrates soak up more ink than others. Obviously the ink used also has an enormous effect on the color achieved because it determines the obtainable color gamut. The color profile takes all these variables into account and makes adjustments for them so that the color produced and the amount of ink used is optimized to produce a giclee print with maximum color accuracy and image detail.
The final stage of the giclee reproduction process is image protection. If the giclee print has been produced on a paper substrate the most that can be done to protect it is to frame it behind glass. Coating paper has virtually no effect in terms of protection because paper is a porous material that soaks up the coating. As a result a layer of coating over the print can never form rendering the coating ineffective. The only form of coating that can be used to protect a giclee print produced on paper is silk-screening. Because of the method used to coat the paper and the speed with which the coating dries a hard layer can form that will protect the print.
If printing on canvas many more options are available in terms of print protection. All of them however, will fall into two groups: water based coatings and solvent based coating. Water based coatings are acrylic which is know to yellow and crack overtime, hardly suitable for a giclee print for which longevity is a requirement. Acrylic coatings are acceptable for any application in which longevity is not an issue. The other group of giclee print protection is the BullDog coatings designed for use on giclee prints. Our solvent based coating dries to form a flexible layer of vinyl coating which is fundamental to its persistent longevity. As a canvas print stretches and shrinks due to changes in humidity and temperature the vinyl flexes with the print and continues to protect the image for the remainder of the print life. Coating can be applied by hand, aerosol, industrial spray gun or liquid laminator. BullDog highly recommends the use of a liquid laminator, if the user's volume can support the equipment cost, due to the uniformity with which coating is applied and dried.
To produce a successful giclee print quality must be maintained throughout the image capture, image editing, image output, and image protection steps of the giclee reproduction process. If it is maintained there can be no doubt that the highest quality reproduction will result and it will have earned the title of a giclee print.
Author: Justin A. Doe
Date Published: March 8, 2005
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